KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Wisdom hit a grand slam as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, Seiya Suzuki also homered and the Chicago Cubs beat the Kansas City Royals 9-4 on Saturday night.
Wisdom hit for Pete Crow-Armstrong and laced the homer 440-feet off Sam Long into the fountains in left for a 7-4 lead.
“That was pretty cool,” Wisdom said. “I don’t think it really hit me until I was rounding second base and I saw the dugout going nuts so that was pretty special for sure.”
The runners were put on base by Seth Lugo (12-5), who went 6 1/3 innings. He allowed six earned runs on five hits while walking two and striking out two.
“He gave us a really good chance to win. He is out there in the seventh after giving up three runs,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Not as many strikeouts; they did a good job of putting the ball in play and forcing some action. Lugo gave us a chance to win but you have to give them credit for putting the ball in play.”
Julian Merryweather (1-0) pitched an inning for the victory. Cubs starter Shota Imanaga went 5 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits and three strikeouts.
“I thought Shota was good and I think they did a really good job against him,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “They were really good against the high fastball and the splitter and fouled off a ton so credit to them because I thought he threw a lot of good pitches.” Overall, just a good night in all phases.”
Suzuki hit his 15th homer, scoring Michael Busch to make it 2-0 in the first. Hunter Renfroe his 10th homer for Kansas City in the second.
Crow-Armstrong tripled and scored in the third inning to make it 3-1.
Kansas rallied in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead. Bobby Witt Jr. doubled in Maikel Garcia, but was thrown out rounding second base. Later, Salvador Perez singled, Freddy Fermin doubled and Renfroe followed with a two-run single.
David Bote and Nico Hoerner drove in runs in the ninth for Chicago.
ROSTER MOVES
The Cubs acquired RHP Nate Pearson from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for INF Josh Rivera and OF Yohendrick Pinango. RHP Jesus Tinoco was designated for assignment.
UP NEXT
Chicago RHP Javier Assad (4-3, 3.15 ERA) is set to face LHP Cole Ragans (7-6, 3.23) on Sunday.
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